The Nochta Site: The Early^ Middle^ and Late Archaic Occupations Michael J. Higgins with contributions by Andrew C. Fortier, Douglas K. Jackson, Kathryn E. Parker, and Mary Simon American Bottom Archaeology FAI-270 Site Reports AMERICAN BOTTOM ARCHAEOLOGY FAI-270 Site Reports Edited by Walthall Charles J. Bareis and James A. regions This multi-volume series on one of the-most significant archaeological Administration and in North America is co-sponsored by the Federal Highway report on excavation the Illinois Department of Transportation. The volumes floodplain of sites affected by the construction of Interstate Highway 270 on the across the of the Mississippi River in Monroe, St. Clair, and Madison counties river from St. Louis. of the anthropology department at the University Charles J. Bareis is a member Archaeologist of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and John A. Walthall is Chief actively involved for the Illinois Department of Transportation. Both have been in the excavations of the American Bottom. Volumes Now Available 1. The East St. Louis Stone Quarry Site Cemetery George R. Milner 2. The Florence Street Site K. Thomas E. Emerson, George R. Milner, and Douglas Jackson 3. The Missouri Pacific #2 Site Dale L. McElrath and Andrew C. Fortier 4. The Turner and DeMange Sites George R. Milner 5. The Mund Site Andrew C. Fortier, Fred A. Finney, and Richard B. Lacampagne 6. The BBB Motor Site Thomas E. Emerson and Douglas K. Jackson 7. The Julien Site George R. Milner 8. The Fish Lake Site Andrew C. Fortier, Richard B. Lacampagne, and Fred A. Finney 9. The Go-Kart North Site and The Dyroff and Levin Sites Andrew C. Fortier Thomas E. Emerson 10. The Robinson's Lake Site George R. Milner 11. The Carbon Dioxide Site and The Robert Schneider Site Fred A. Finney Andrew C. Fortier 12. The Dohack Site Ann Brower Stahl 13. Selected Sites in the Hill Lake Locality Andrew C. Fortier 14. The McLean Site Dale Lee McElrath UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY (List c(AiTiftJRfiANA><i»^MMeAI6ftr) ILL HIST. SURVEY The Nochta Site 2: The Early, Middle, and Late Archaic Occupations AMERICAN BOTTOM ARCHAEOLOGY FAI-270 Site Reports Volume 21 Series Editors: Coordinator) and Charles J. Bareis (Principal Investigator and Program John A. Walthall (Chief Archaeologist, Illinois Department of Transportation) Project Director: Andrew C. Fortier Copy Editors: Barbara E. Cohen and Kathryn Koldehoff Investigations conducted under the auspices of the Illinois Archaeological Survey in cooperation with: The United States Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration The United States Department of the Interior National Park Service The State of Illinois Department of Transportation J. Paul Biggers (Chief of Environment) John A. Walthall, Ph.D. (Chief Archaeologist) The Nochta Site: The Early, Middle, and Late Archaic Occupations (ll-Ms-128) Michael J. Higgins with contributions by Andrew C. Fortier, Douglas K. Jackson, Kathryn E. Parker, and Mary Simon Published for the Illinois Department of Transportation by the University of Illinois Press Urbana and Chicago 1990 1990 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Higgins, Michael J. (Michael John) The Nochta site (11-Ms-128) : the early, middle, and late Archaic occupations / Michael J. Higgins : with contributions by Andrew C. Fortier . [et al.]. p. cm. — (American Bottom archaeology : FAI-270 site reports : V. 21) Bibliography: p. ISBN 0-252-06079-2 1. Nochta Site (III.) 2. Indians of North America— Illinois- American Bottom— Antiquities. 3. American Bottom (III.)— Antiquities. 4. Illinois— Antiquities. I. Fortier, Andrew C, 1947- . II. Title. III. Series: American Bottom archaeology : v. 21. E78.I3A58 1983 vol. 21 970 s— dc20 [977.3'81 89-34661 CIP To Dick Flanders, From one bricklayer to another- this one's for you, Doc CONTENTS List of Tables ix List of Figures xi List of Plates xiii Preface xv Acknowledgments xvii Part 1 Early and Middle Archaic Occupations at the Nochta Site, 1 Michael ). Higgins 1 Introduction 3 2 The Dalton Occupation 31 3 The Early Archaic Occupations 59 4 The Middle Archaic Occupation 79 5 General Archaic 115 6 The Middle Woodland Occupation 143 7 Summary and Conclusions 159 Part 2 Investigations in the Mainline Portion of the Nochta Site, Andrew C. Fortier 163 8 Introduction 165 9 Local Environment 167 10 History of Site Investigations 171 11 Research Design and Excavation Strategy 177 12 Analytical Methods, Andrew C. Fortier and Douglas K. Jackson 179 13 Results of Survey and Excavation 183 14 Interpretation 225 15 Significance 229 Appendix A: Early Archaic Archaeobotany, Kathryn E. Parker 231 Appendix B: Middle Archaic Archaeobotany, Mary Simon 237 Appendix C: Archaeobotanical Remains from Middle Woodland Feature 51, Mary Simon 261 Appendix D: Metric Data for Nochta Site Features 265 Appendix E: Description of Chert Types 271 References 273 LIST OF TABLES 1. Vertical Mixing of Diagnostic Projectile Points 21 2. Basal Concavity Depths for Dalton Points 34 3. Middle Archaic Chert Types 80 4. Middle Archaic Radiocarbon Dates 108 5. Ceramic Materials from Areas A and B 187 6. (^hert Debitagc from Area B 189 7. ( hcrt r<M)ls from Area B 190 8. Attributes of Projectile Points from Area B 193 9. Attributes of linhafted Bifaces (Knives/Scra|>ers) from Area B 195 10. Nonchert Lithic Materials from Area B 206 11. Ceramic Materials from Area C 210 12. (^hcrt Debitage from Area C 213 13. Chert Tools from Area C 214 14. Attributes of Projectile Points from Area C 214 15. Nonchert Lithic Materials from Area C 222 16. Modern/Historic Materials from Area B 222 17. Modern/Historic Materials from Area C 223 18. Materials Recovered from (he Area between Areas B and C 223 19. Summary of Materials Recovered from Areas A-C 225 20. Flotation-Recovered Plant Remains: Nochta Site Karly Archaic Component 233 21. Middle Archaic Archaeobotany: Results of Analysis 242 22. Middle Archaic Archaeobotany: Summary of Quantitative Data 241 23. Middle Archaic Archaeobotany: (ieneral Sample Composition 241 24. Middle Archaic Archaeobotany: Nutshell Data 251 25. Middle Archaic Archaeobotany: Wood Identification 253 26. Middle Archaic Archaeobotany: Estimated Allocated Nutmeat Data 256 27. Middle Archaic Archaeobotany: Nutshell Compositi«>n with Allocation 257 28. Feature 51 Identified Botanical Remains 262 29. Feature 51 Nutshell lypes 263 LIST OF FIGURES 1. FAI-27ft Projecf with 5.8-Milc Extension 4 2. Coomorphological Features in the Noehta Site Locality 5 3. Geographical Location of the Nochia Site 6 4. Ihe Noehta Site and the Locations of the Borrow Pits 7 5. Schematic (ieomorphological Fransect Across the Central Portion of the Noehta Site 10 6. Surface ("oncentrations of Cultural Material 15 7. Projectile Point INIeasurenients and lerniinology 27 8. Feature Types 29 9. Pit Volume Formulas 30 10. Dalton Adze 42 1 1. Possible Dalton Feature ("luster 51 12. Distribution of Dalton Artifacts 54 13. Distribution of Agate Basin Points 63 14. Distribution of Kirk Points 66 15. Distribution of Hardin Barbed Points and Related Artifacts 69 16. Middle Archaic Feature Complex 98 17. Middle Archaic Feature Clusters 103 18. Feature Diversity by Clusters 106 19. ( obble Tool Percentages by Rock Type 131 20. Feature Clusters 140 21. Test Excavations in the Middle W(MKlland Portion of Ihe Noehta Site 153 22. Original Limits of Noehta Mainline, Borrow Pit #72, and Borrow Pit //75 166 23. Transect of the Noehta Site Sand Ridge 168 24. Profile of the Geomorphological Trench (CiT7) at the North Fnd of the Noehta Mainline Area of Investigation 168 25. Surface Scatters within Noehta Mainline as Defined by the FAP-413 Survey in 1977 and ISIJ Survey in 1979 .' 172 26. Limits of the 1984-1985 Machine Excavations within Noehta Mainline 175 27. Material Concentrations (A-L) within the Noehta Site 176 28. 1985 10 X 10 m Surface Collection Blocks 185 29. Distribution of Materials in Area B 10 x 10 m Surface Collection Blocks 186 30. C hert Debitage lypes Recovered from Areas B and C 190 31. A Guide to Projectile Point Attribute Measurements 193 32. Distribution of Materials in Area C 10 x 10 m Surface Collection Blocks 209 33. Model of Nineteenth-Century Vegetation /.ones in the American Bottom 239 . LIST OF PLATES Locality 9 1 . Aerial Photograph of the Nochf a Site 13 2. Test Unit 2, Wall Profile and Burietl A Horizon 3. Aerial Photograph of Borrow Pit PLxcavations 18 4. Hc2i\j Machinery Stripping and Piece I*lotting Artifacts 20 5. Dalton Points: Preform Stages 33 6. Dalton Points: Initial, Advanced, and I'inal Stages 36 7. Miscellaneous Pointetl Bifaces, Dalton ( omponent 38 8. Dalton Adzes 40 9. Possible Adze Blanks 44 10. Dalton End Scrapers 46 1 1 Dalton Flake Knives 48 12. Feature 55 50 13. Agate Basin Points 60 14. Kirk Corner-Notched Points 64 15. Hardin Barbetl and Related Points 67 16. Bifurcate-Based Points 70 17. Miscellaneous Farly Archaic Points 72 18. Middle Archaic Projectile Points: Robinson and Brannon Side-Notched 82 19. Middle Archaic Projectile Points: Miscellaneous 84 20. Middle Archaic Chert Tools 86 21. Bipolar Artifacts Middle Archaic Component 87 22. Metate Recovered from Middle Archaic Pit 91 23. Pitted Cobbles from the Middle Archaic Component 92 24. Cobble Tools from Rock Cluster, Feature 202 93 25. Miscellaneous Middle Archaic Nonchert Artifacts 97 26. Chert Blanks H7 27. Preforms from the Archaic levels 118 28. Drills from the Archaic levels 119 29. Steep-Angled Scrapers 121 30. Flake Knives 122 31. Pieces F^squillees from the Archaic Levels 123 32. Cores 124 33. Ground-Stone Axes 126 34. Miscellaneous Ground-Stone Artifact 129 35. Manos 133 36. Hammerstones 134 37.